The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 37

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 37

 

 

She was a woman who maintained a consistently polite attitude.

 

Unlike when she had snatched away my mobile phone,

she raised both hands to show she meant no harm.

It was an utterly absurd situation.

 

“If you were offended, I apologize.”

“I’m glad you understand that.”

 

The mobile phone I got back was intact.

Messages from Lee Na-yoon, who looked just as bewildered as I was, kept arriving one after another.

 

“Reporter Lee Na-yoon… She’s quite exceptional, isn’t she.”

“Is that so?”

 

At my response, the woman added in a flat voice.

 

“Yes. She’s so exceptional that we’re being cautious about her on our end as well.”

“That’s not really a fact I wanted to know.”

“…So, we had no choice but to disconnect your call.”

 

What a strange way of speaking.

“Disconnect your call” – it was the first time in my life I’d heard such phrasing.

 

“I’m Ji Sung-min. I’m the manager for BelVix under Elus Entertainment.”

 

Regardless of my confusion, the woman extended a business card with efficient movements.

 

This manager, who was armed with an attitude lacking in manners despite her polite speech,

didn’t move a single fingertip until I took the business card.

 

Ellus, BelVix. And a manager.

I knew Ellus would make a move,

but it was faster than I expected.

 

Or perhaps they had come rushing over without any plan at all.

 

Ellus, who had been repeating “checking” ever since Sage ran away.

The first direction they moved in after breaking their silence was toward me.

Wasn’t that a bit too obvious?

 

“Let’s go for now. Our representative is waiting.”

 

I stand corrected.

Her speech might be polite, but it was utterly high-handed.

Her attitude made it clear she wouldn’t give me any other options.

 

Inside the sedan with its door open, I couldn’t sense any human presence except for the driver.

 

So it would just be me and the manager, then.

But a representative, really.

Is it trendy these days for someone at the representative level to move directly?

 

“Where are we going?”

 

When I asked about our destination, the woman opened her mouth with a polite attitude.

 

“To our office. It’s not a place that would cause any harm to you, lawyer, so you don’t need to worry.”

 

Of course it wouldn’t be.

 

“So you don’t need to contact that police officer, your younger brother.”

 

Her additional comment was meaningful.

 

Did Hwan tell them?

No, Hwan never saw Sung Tae-jun’s face.

He had disappeared before Sung Tae-jun even got close.

 

That meant they had investigated my background.

Though it wasn’t really something an agency representative would typically do.

 

“Since you already know, let me tell you-“

“Yes.”

“My younger brother likes me quite a lot.”

“…Excuse me?”

 

The manager’s face was slightly colored with confusion at my unexpected words.

She quickly regained her poker face, but she seemed to be human after all.

 

“If I don’t contact him for too long, he gets anxious and might come looking for me here using location tracking.”

 

Of course, it was complete nonsense.

But the manager nodded expressionlessly.

 

“That won’t happen.”

“It better not. If you investigated, you’d know that unlike me, he’s a bit rough around the edges.”

 

The sedan door closed.

We arrived at Elus Entertainment’s building, just as she had said.

The building stood tall in the heart of downtown Seoul, with BelVix-related merchandise being advertised on the electronic billboard.

 

“Please come this way.”

 

As the manager had said, it wasn’t a place reeking of illegality,

but it was a company that smelled of conducting illegal experiments on trainees from the start.

I walked toward the direction the manager was leading, pretending to be relaxed.

 

Finally arriving in front of the Representative’s Office on the top floor, the manager made a request before knocking.

 

“Our representative is someone with an open mind.”

“Is that so.”

 

That wasn’t what I was curious about.

How could someone maintain the exact same expression the entire time without even a single twitch at the corner of their mouth?

That was the one thing I was curious about regarding this woman called a manager.

 

“In any case, we ask for your smooth cooperation.”

 

How presumptuous.

The door to the Representative’s Office opened.

 

* * *

 

“Well, if it isn’t our Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun!”

 

Inside the Representative’s Office.

 

A well-organized desk and chair, similar to a typical office, first caught my eye.

A display case filled with various award plaques and trophies that seemed to have been won from various media outlets also filled one entire wall.

 

“I was waiting for our lawyer so long that my eyes nearly fell out. Haha.”

 

The man who had been sitting on the sofa jumped up and approached me.

With his face full of smiles as he grabbed my hand first, anyone watching would have thought we were old friends meeting again.

 

I roughly grasped and shook his hand in response.

 

“Was your trip here comfortable? Our Seong-min is the most gentle guy among the kids I have with me.”

“Yes, well.”

 

Even though I didn’t bother hiding my lukewarm expression, the man laughed heartily.

 

“Come, come. Oh my, it’s late at night and we can’t have our lawyer getting tired. Please sit over here. Let’s get this done cleanly – just like that, quickly finished! And I’ll have you escorted back.”

 

I could see a nameplate engraved with the name , the representative of Elus Entertainment.

He passed the desk where the nameplate stood and guided me to the sofa.

A familiar leather bag was placed there along with several documents.

 

“Haha, clean, right?”

 

The man urged me to sit while patting the sofa.

 

I see.

Actually, it wasn’t that surprising of a story.

It was more mundane than expected, enough to make me yawn.

 

“Gosh, I’m embarrassed to face our lawyer.”

“…”

“I told our kids to prepare a nice bag. But there’s been quite a lot going on these past few days, hasn’t there?”

 

For a face that was chuckling away, his eyes were sharp.

When I picked up the documents with a calm expression, the man smiled again and pointed to the bag placed beside them.

 

“So this is what our kids hastily prepared. Really, they all lack sense. Sense. It doesn’t match our lawyer’s reputation – so crude. And ugly. Right?”

“What exactly do you want to say? Just say it.”

“Hey now, why are you being like that? We all know each other. I really wanted to, you know. A luxury item! Just about this size, a bag worth about ten to fifteen million.”

 

The Elus representative’s tongue was getting longer and longer.

After spending quite a while making excuses about preparing a black leather bag instead of a luxury bag, the man finally spoke his last words.

 

“Two billion.”

 

It probably wasn’t that there were two billion won inside that one bag.

 

“Just for wrapping up this matter, two billion.”

 

The representative looked at me with gleaming eyes and pointed to the bag full of cash.

 

“That’s a bonus. You know everything there is to know, right? Our lawyer, you became good friends with Assemblyman Kim Wan-gil recently.”

 

To mention Kim Wan-gil here.

The representative, who had casually mentioned the connection to NOVA as if testing the waters, continued speaking nonchalantly.

 

“It’s clean money. That money, anyone could take it anywhere and it’d be clean. Huh? National Tax Service, government, whatever… you’d know better than me. That money is just, simply given as a bonus.”

 

Soon the representative pointed to the documents in my hand.

 

“I didn’t know what our lawyer would like, so I roughly brought everything I had.”

“…”

“Come on, let’s wrap this up nicely. Today, let’s finish this on a good note! If we go for drinks, people’s hearts soften quickly, you know?”

 

I examined the documents he had pointed to.

 

Non-disclosure agreement, partnership investment agreement, external legal advisor appointment contract…

He had prepared quite a lot.

 

Two billion separate from the money packed full in the bag.

 

“It’s nothing much. That law firm… was it Ilchul? Gosh, the office situation isn’t exactly great either.”

 

The man, who now leaned back deep into the sofa with a good-natured expression, looked even more relaxed now.

 

It seems he investigated everything from Sung Tae-hyun’s personal information to the office situation.

Although the office situation had improved after the Kim Wan-gil case, it was still just three measly lawyers.

 

No.

Excluding Ho-shin Senior who’s currently away, it’s a small office with just two lawyers in total.

 

He seemed to think it would be difficult for me to refuse.

 

“In case of violation of this contract, Party A shall pay Party B ten billion won as penalty in addition to damages.”

“Hmm, too much? Hehe, it’s nothing special. We also need something to rely on.”

 

How arrogant.

I read through his contract with a sneer.

 

“What’s this investment agreement for? I’ve never received anything like this before.”

“Ah- our Lawyer Sung was still a newcomer to society, right? Haha. I got ahead of myself because you’re so famous.”

“‘Growth contribution funds’ with no obligation to recover…”

“Good, right? I gave our Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun the best consideration I could. There’s also a commission contract, but it would be even better if you completely abandon Ilchul and join our side.”

 

The man brought over an employment contract that had been casually placed far on the table, presenting it right in front of me.

 

“Just say the word, just say it. I’ll accommodate everything.”

“In exchange, you’ll bury the Shin Da-ye and Sage cases?”

“Ha, finally getting to the point. Yes, that’s it. Lawyer Sung. Since you know the whole situation, I won’t beat around the bush, right? That case, let’s just end it with whatever press release we put out.”

“What kind of content?”

 

The man also presented what seemed to be an already prepared press release.

 

“…A mishap due to Sage’s mental illness…”

“Yeah, let’s just wrap it up nicely. We can downplay Da-ye’s injury to some extent when we release it. And well, if we pin it all on Sage anyway, calming public opinion will be quick.”

“Are you planning to completely abandon Sage?”

 

The Representative’s eyes gleamed, mistakenly thinking I had almost completely come over to his side.

 

“We have to abandon him. He’s also famous for being muggle-pick- ah, do you know the term muggle-pick? It’s something young people use these days, meaning ordinary people-“

“Just get to the point simply.”

“Haha, our Lawyer Sung is so sharp. Really, just quit the commission work. How about it? We have a Team Leader position open.”

“…”

“Yeah, it’s early. Too early. Anyway, well, I did spend quite a lot of money raising BelVix, but fans just need to stick in one new guy and endure for just two or three years. BelVix has name value, so it won’t die that easily.”

 

To summarize, they’ll pin everything on Sage and abandon him.

 

Don’t they know yet that the plastic bottle with the suspicious illegal label has been discovered?

That’s not something Sage alone can handle.

 

“Yeah, I know what our Lawyer Sung is thinking.”

“Setting aside abandoning Sage, what’s your plan for the police investigation that’s currently ongoing?”

 

A fishy smile hung on the Representative’s lips.

 

“Again with these details, nice.”

 

He giggled while fiddling with the press release full of lies to pin on Sage.

 

“The police, yeah. Our Lawyer Sung doesn’t need to worry about that side.”

“What do you mean?”

“Acting so innocent again.”

 

It hadn’t even been a year since I died as a judge.

Sung Tae-hyun’s face must indeed look young.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one unable to get my bearings from this sudden rejuvenation.

 

“Don’t worry about the police. Everything is- in our hands anyway.”

“…Is that about Assemblyman Kim Wan-gil?”

 

At my direct words, the man burst into hearty laughter.

 

“It could be, or it might not be.”

 

The man, who had been buried deep in the sofa, slowly raised his body and met my eyes.

 

“So, then… which side is our Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun on?”

 

He had thrown the dice.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————